Removing light oxidation before claying?

I was told by a salesperson at one of the well-known auto detail supply sites that I should remove light oxidation with my PC before claying the car; she said that oxidation would contaminate the clay if not dealt with first. Does that make sense to you guys, or should I go ahead and clay, then remove the light oxidation, and so on?

I was told by a salesperson at one of the well-known auto detail supply sites that I should remove light oxidation with my PC before claying the car; she said that oxidation would contaminate the clay if not dealt with first. Does that make sense to you guys, or should I go ahead and clay, then remove the light oxidation, and so on?

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yeah, that's what the clay is for. sometimes salespeople really amaze me. clay first, it is designed to remove surface contaminates so that you have truly clean paint before correcting.

On extremely oxidized paint it takes FOREVER to clay through it. If you use AIO or a polish to remove it it saves a butt load of time. If not you could spend 2-3 hours trying to clay the oxidation off.

i'm going to have to disagree with scott. If I'm going to compound (or most any paint correction), I'm going to clay first. my goal is to remove whatever is on top of the paint. once I start to compound, the product will cut the paint and pull most anything else out of the paint and into the pad.

I think I need more clarification then, based on Scott's comment. I understand the painful aspect of claying oxidized paint, that makes sense. If I'm going after my paint with compound and cutting pad, why bother to clay afterwards at all? What benefit is claying at that point?

well, after thinking a bit more, it's not necessarily a bad idea. I recall times while polishing i've come across small specs of whatever that weren't removed by the clay or the compound.

i think i'm going to chalk this one up to personal preferences. i prefer to clay after wash, before compound. maybe one day i'll have the time/opportunity to try it scott's way. a different approach can always be taken!

I think I need more clarification then, based on Scott's comment. I understand the painful aspect of claying oxidized paint, that makes sense. If I'm going after my paint with compound and cutting pad, why bother to clay afterwards at all? What benefit is claying at that point?

The only thing I would be concerned about with compounding or polishing before claying is picking up any bonded particles that would normally be lifted off of the paint by the clay. If you get a particle into your pad and that sucker spins around on your paint, you are going to introduce more swirling than what you even started with. My vote is for claying first just to get the bonded particles off then compound. The compound will eliminate anything else on the paint and there will be no need to clay after that. A freshly compounded surface is just about as clean as it gets!

The only thing I would be concerned about with compounding or polishing before claying is picking up any bonded particles that would normally be lifted off of the paint by the clay. If you get a particle into your pad and that sucker spins around on your paint, you are going to introduce more swirling than what you even started with. My vote is for claying first just to get the bonded particles off then compound. The compound will eliminate anything else on the paint and there will be no need to clay after that. A freshly compounded surface is just about as clean as it gets!